Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

• President and CEO: Katey Zeh
• Chair of the Board: The Reverend Dr. Alethea Smith-Withers, pastor of the Pavilion of God (Baptist), Washington, DC
• Chair of the Coalition Council, Kate Lannamann, J.D.

RCRC give spiritual guidance to women seeking abortions; doctors, doulas, and other health care professionals; other clergy; and reproductive rights activists. They advocate for laws that expand access to reproductive care.

In 2012, the Ohio RCR successfully opposed two bills in the state legislature that would have defunded Planned Parenthood and instituted a heartbeat bill. The executive director of the Ohio RCRC at the time, Cathy Levy, said part of their success was due to RCRC "coordinat[ing] clergy to testify in opposition"{{Cite web |last=Steenland |first=Sally |date=6 December 2012 |title=Faith Leaders Fight for Reproductive Justice at the State Level |url=https://www.americanprogress.org/article/faith-leaders-fight-for-reproductive-justice-at-the-state-level/ |access-date=17 June 2024 |website=Center for American Progress}} to the bills.

RCRC members bless abortion clinics. In the late 2010s, RCRC members in Texas blessed several Whole Woman's Health clinics, a plaintiff in Supreme Court cases Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt and Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson.{{Cite news |last=Novack |first=Sophie |date=August 28, 2019 |title='My Congregation Trusts Women': Faith Groups Counter Anti-Abortion Narratives |url=https://www.texasobserver.org/my-congregation-trusts-women-progressive-faith-groups-counter-anti-abortion-narratives/ |access-date=14 June 2024 |work=Texas Observer}}

In 2021, Kentucky RCRC paid $12,000 for religious, pro-abortion digital billboards in Louisville, Nicholasville, and Paducah, Kentucky. They raised over $8,000 towards the advertisements through a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe. The wording of the advertisements drew critiques from religious anti-abortion groups.{{Cite news |last=Maynard |first=Mark |date=22 April 2021 |title=Religious group with Planned Parenthood ties unveils pro-abortion billboards |access-date= |work=Interior Journal |location=Stanford, Kentucky |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}

In response to the 2021 Texas Heartbeat Act, the New Mexico RCRC financially assisted women who traveled from Texas to New Mexico to receive abortions.{{Cite news |last=Tashji |first=Michael |date=3 November 2021 |title=Rep. Leger Fernandez raises funds to aid women in Texas seeking abortions |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/rep-leger-fernandez-raises-funds-044300861.html |url-status= |access-date=14 June 2024 |work=The Santa Fe New Mexican}}

In the late 1990s, Carlton W. Veazey became the president and CEO of RCRC. During first few years of his leadership, he created the National Black Church Initiative within RCRC. He and other members of the initiative founded the National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality. The first summit was held on June 12-13, 1997 at Howard University. Over 250 people attended and events included worship services, workshops, and keynote speeches. Calvin O. Butts, Henry Foster, Kelly Brown Douglas, and Walter Fauntroy spoke at the summit.{{Cite news |last= |date=28 June 1997 |title=Religious summit on sexuality examines taboo issues on sexuality |work=New York Amsterdam News |pages=10 |volume=88 |issue=26 |issn=1059-1818}}

In 2000, RCRC and the NBCI launched a seminary project in order to educate Black clergy on issues of sexuality, reproductive choice, HIV prevention, and teenagers and sex.{{Cite news |date=4 January 2001 |title=Seminary project focuses on sexuality issues in Black church |work=New York Amsterdam News |pages=28 |volume=92 |issue=1 |issn=1059-1818}}{{Cite book |last=M. Townes |first=Emilie |title=Long March Ahead: African American Churches and Public Policy in Post-Civil Rights America |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8223-3358-6 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=R. Drew |pages=137-139 |chapter=African American Churches and Reproductive Health Rights}}

In 2023, the national RCRC dissolved their state affiliate network.{{Cite journal |last=Littlefield |first=Amy |date=30 May 2022 |title=The Fight for Abortion After Roe Falls |journal=The Nation |volume=314 |issue=11 |pages=14-19 |issn=0027-8378 |via=Academic Search Complete}} Prior to that dissolution, the state affiliates and state networks of the Religious Coalition were involved in advocacy, education, community service, and implementing RCRC programs such as Clergy for Choice, All Options Clergy Counseling, and Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom at the community and state level.[https://rcrc.org/affiliates/ RCRC website] "About" section, "Affiliates"

• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Minnesota
• New Mexico
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Wisconsin

== Member organizations ==

Coalition Council Members:Coalition Council/ Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, [http://rcrc.org/?page_id=399/ "Coalition Council"]Accessdate = 2013-10-25 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192828/http://rcrc.org/?page_id=399%2F |date=2013-10-29 }}

• Rabbinical Assembly
• United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
• Union for Reform Judaism
• Women's League for Conservative Judaism
• Episcopal Church (United States)
• American Ethical Union National Service Conference
• Society for Humanistic Judaism
• Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options (PARO) of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
• Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
• Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
• Central Conference of American Rabbis
• North American Federation of Temple Youth
• Women of Reform Judaism, The Federation of Temple Sisterhoods
• Women's Rabbinic Network of Central Conference of American Rabbis
• The United Church of Christ
• Unitarian Universalist Association
• Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation [http://www.uuwf.org/ website]
• Young Religious Unitarian Universalists
• Continental Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Network
• American Jewish Committee
• American Jewish Congress
• Anti-Defamation League
• Catholics for Choice
• Christian Lesbians Out (CLOUT)
• Church of the Brethren Women's Caucus
• Disciples for Choice
• Episcopal Urban Caucus
• Episcopal Women's Caucus
• Hadassah, WZOA
• Jewish Women International
• Lutheran Women's Caucus
• Methodist Federation for Social Action
• NA'AMAT USA
• National Council of Jewish Women
• Women's American ORT
• YWCA of the USA

RCRC is criticized as advancing a "theology of choice" in Holy Abortion, a 2003 book co-authored by United Methodist Michael J. Gorman, a professor at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland.Gorman, Michael J. and Brooks, Ann Loar, Holy Abortion, Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 2003, 92pp.

• Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus
• List of abortion-rights organizations in the United States

{{Reflist}}

• {{official website|https://rcrc.org/}}
• [https://reuther.wayne.edu/node/14222 Michigan Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice records] at Wayne State University
• [https://files.shsmo.org/manuscripts/saint-louis/S0805.pdf Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice records] at the State Historical Society of Missouri
• [https://archives.libraries.rutgers.edu/repositories/11/resources/884 New Jersey Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice records] at Rutgers University

{{DEFAULTSORT:Religious Coalition For Reproductive Choice}}

Category:Religious organizations based in Washington, D.C.

Category:Civic and political organizations of the United States

Category:Abortion-rights organizations in the United States

Category:Abortion-rights religious organizations

Category:Religious organizations established in 1973

Category:1973 establishments in Washington, D.C.